nfreeman

They are 4 under .500 with a high likelihood of being 5 under in a few hours -- and it's Nov. 8. Their best player has left the team indefinitely (and understandably -- God bless him and his family) and their next 2 best players are having mediocre starts. Their goaltending started off better than expected and has now started to stink again. They could be 10 under by Thanksgiving real easy, and at that point the season will be unquestionably over. If that happens, will everyone get fired?

I watched the last 10 min plus OT. Like in the Caps game, the Sabres got dominated and got a point only because of the goaltending. Quinn has negative-evolved into another Derek Roy -- skilled but soft and gutless -- minus the productivity.

I’ll say it again: McD can coach my team as long as he wants.

Not sure a victory lap is called for here. They are 2 under .500 and they looked like crap in the 3rd and OT.

Let the record reflect that UPL kept them alive in the 3rd and OT. Good for him. I’ve only been watching since the start of the 3rd but I didn’t like what I saw from Power or Quinn in particular. edit: or Tuch

They are playing like they expect to lose.

That was an exciting game. Power makes infuriatingly soft plays on the regular but also makes quite a few nice plays. Dahlin looks distracted, understandably enough, but in any case is nowhere near his best. Quinn and Östlund were really bad to start the game but hung in there and had a number of nice shifts as the game went on. I think though they are both too soft to play with each other. I'd like to see Östlund with Doan and Tuch and McLeod with Quinn and Zucker. Kulich is out of his depth on the top line. Lyon was sturdy for the most part but the 2nd goal, from the blue line, was lousy, and the 3rd one wasn't great either albeit deflected. Still: they are 2 under .500, with 2 consecutive losses, and they need to get some wins.

1-goal lead with 9 minutes to go in a game they should win if they want to have a shot at the playoffs this year. Let's see what they're made of.

They started the 1st period terribly, I agree, but after about 8 minutes it was pretty even IMHO. I really like the Doan-McLeod-Tuch line.

This is a pretty good game. The Sabres are flawed but definitely improved. Lyon and Doan are huge improvements.

You cannot seriously think that Adams has not terribly mishandled the goalie position during his tenure here. 20-21 -- Ullmark, Tokarski, Hutton -- let's give him a pass for inheriting a very difficult situation with Krueger, Covid and a belt-tightening owner. 21-22 -- after butchering the Ullmark contract and losing him to Boston, where he shines, KA goes with Craig Anderson, Tokarski and Dell. Grade: F 22-23 -- UPL, Anderson, Comrie. Comrie was the shiny new toy, who crashed and burned, leaving us with mediocrities in UPL (.891, 3.61) and Anderson (.908, 3.06). Grade: F 23-24 -- It was supposed to be wunderkind Levi, but he couldn't handle it, so UPL got the #1 job and had the best year of his career. Comrie was bad again. Grade: inadvertent B. 24-25 -- UPL got a big contract before the season and promptly pooped the bed with .887 and 3.20 in 55 games. Reimer, the definition of "journeyman", was better and took over down the stretch. Grade: F That's 3 Fs, a lucky B, a charitable incomplete in his 1st season and an incomplete in his 6th season. And it wasn't because it couldn't be helped.

What’s the mosquito situation like in NS? I ask because it’s not far from Maine, and often compared with Maine, which is very pretty but has more mosquitoes than anywhere else I’ve ever been.

I hate myself for caving so quickly, but I'm reading this GDT and I'm watching the game tonight. I have NP at all with Lindy dressing a designated fighter. Of course it would be better if the team had enough guts and toughness throughout the roster to make it unnecessary, but they don't. They've been mentally broken for some time now. This is designed to address that. It may not be effective, but I have no problem with trying to address it. Who TF is Dunne? Go Sabres. Next stop, DeLuca .500.

TP isn't firing anyone tonight. But at some point he will have to act. The pressure, including from the NHL, will be too great. The question is when will the camel's back break. If they start the season, say, 0-10? I think KA and Lindy are gone. But what if it's just 0-6? Or 1-9 with a couple of OTLs? We all know the answer: TP will stall and delay and hem and haw until Thanksgiving, or New Year's, or the Spring for that matter. In the meantime, everyone can see that the wheels are falling off, and it's a question of when, not if. Thanks for another great season, Terry and Kevyn! Great job!

Kinda seems like an insurance policy against Lyon being a complete washout, understanding that Lyon himself is an insurance policy against a 2nd year of UPL crashing and burning.

And, I believe, drafted by Winnipeg with a first-rounder provided by Tim Murray in the ill-fated Evander Kane trade. So maybe GMTM still has a chance to win that one?

Serious question: wasn't it just like a week or 2 ago that the Sabres were crawling with young, talented, highly-drafted forwards (some of which were supposed to be consolation prizes for being forced to trade Eichel and Reinhart)? But now there is a big hole in the top 6 and not enough offense? It kinda feels like when Botteril accumulated too many RHDs, then squandered them via terrible GMing, leaving a hole at RHD.

Most likely outcome: BB is traded next summer. Sneakily possible outcome: BB outplays Power convincingly next season, Power is traded and BB signs a long-term extension.

It just feels 90% likely that Byram will take the 1-year deal and start counting the days until he can force a trade next summer. Great job, KA!

This is how I've been feeling since they traded JJP. It also feels 90% likely that they will be bottom-5 in payroll yet again. They are officially not a real NHL team until proven otherwise. Such a disappointment.

Whoa. This isn't just "good skater for a tall guy."

I respect Tom’s opinion, but I would be stunned if Stahl were named GM of any team in the next 3 years, and I can’t see KA and JK staying in their current roles for more than 1 year.

Upon some reflection, I think JK is likely to be the next GM, but it hasn't been promised to him and it won't be this summer. I think TP wants to take a look at JK, see how things go this summer with JK a full participant and see how the season starts off. If it's a poop show, KA is gone and TP can decide about JK at that point. If it goes well and the team looks good, he can decide about both of them at that point. No one is hiring either of them away in the meantime. From JK's perspective, the 2024 and 2025 GM hiring seasons went by and he wasn't able to grab a spot. So this keeps him in the NHL and in the on deck circle for a GM job that is reasonably likely to open up soon (and for a billionaire owner who hasn't done so lately but previously spent to the cap and showered the franchise with money). That's a pretty good landing spot and probably the best one he could find.

Interesting, and very plausible. Not sure that JK would perish in the Red Wedding, being an experienced and presumably leaguewide-respected GM who was very recently brought in -- I'd guess he'd probably just replace KA or, possibly with Lindy, advise TP on choosing a new GM.